gh-aw-operations

name: gh-aw-operations description: Comprehensive skills for creating, compiling, debugging, and managing GitHub Agentic Workflows (gh-aw) with best practices and common patterns metadata: author: Thomas Thornton version: "1.0.0" last-updated: "2026-05-19" category: automation tags: [github-agentic-workflows, gh-aw, automation, ci-cd, ai-workflows]

GitHub Agentic Workflows Operations Skill

This skill provides expertise in creating, managing, and troubleshooting GitHub Agentic Workflows (gh-aw framework).

When to Use

• Creating new GitHub Agentic Workflows from scratch
• Configuring frontmatter fields (triggers, permissions, tools, safe-outputs, MCP servers)
• Debugging compilation errors or runtime failures in gh-aw workflows
• Adding safe-outputs or network allowlists to existing workflows
• Importing reusable agents and skills from external repositories
• Testing and deploying workflows to GitHub Actions

Skill 1: Frontmatter Configuration

Description

Configure workflow frontmatter with all required and optional fields following gh-aw specifications.

Implementation Pattern

---
# ===== REQUIRED FIELDS =====
on:
  workflow_dispatch:
    inputs:
      parameter_name:
        description: 'Clear description of parameter'
        required: false
        type: string|boolean|choice|number
        default: "default_value"  # Boolean: "true"/"false" as strings
  schedule:
    - cron: '0 9 * * 1'  # Monday 9 AM UTC
  issues:
    types: [opened, labeled]
  pull_request:
    types: [opened, synchronize]

engine: copilot  # GitHub Copilot as AI engine

permissions:
  contents: read      # NEVER use write — strict mode blocks it
  pull-requests: read # All writes go through safe-outputs
  issues: read

# ===== TOOLS CONFIGURATION =====
tools:
  edit:              # bare key — enables file read AND edit
  bash:              # bare key — default safe commands
  github:
    toolsets: [pull_requests]  # Only include toolsets your workflow needs

# ===== MCP SERVERS (if needed) =====
mcp-servers:
  terraform:
    container: "hashicorp/terraform-mcp-server:0.5.1"
    env:
      TF_LOG: "INFO"
    allowed: ["*"]

# ===== SAFE OUTPUTS =====
safe-outputs:
  create-pull-request:
    title-prefix: "[automated] "
    labels: [automation]
    draft: true
    reviewers: [copilot]
    expires: 14
    fallback-as-issue: true
  create-issue:
    title-prefix: "[bot] "
    labels: [automation]
    expires: 7
  update-issue: null
  add-comment: null

# ===== NETWORK ACCESS =====
network:
  allowed:
    - defaults
    - registry.terraform.io
    - releases.hashicorp.com
    - api.github.com

# ===== IMPORTS (if using reusable agents/skills) =====
imports:
  - owner/repo/.github/agents/agent-name.agent.md@main
  - owner/repo/.github/skills/skill-name/SKILL.md@main
---

Key Rules

• edit: is a bare key (no value) — enables both reading and writing files. edit: null and edit: true both fail compilation.
• read: is not a valid tool — file reading is provided by edit:.
• bash: is a bare key (no value) for default safe commands, or bash: ["cmd"] for specific commands.
• contents: write / pull-requests: write / issues: write are blocked by strict mode — use safe-outputs: for all write operations instead.
• pull_request: trigger requires types: — bare pull_request: fails compilation.
• workflow_dispatch: is a bare key — workflow_dispatch: null fails compilation.
• Toolsets and permissions must align — toolsets: [default] includes the issues toolset which requires issues: read; only declare the toolsets you actually need.
• Boolean defaults must be strings: default: "true" not default: true
• Safe-output fields use hyphens: create-pull-request not create_pull_request
• Imports use owner/repo/path@ref format, not raw GitHub URLs
• Safe-outputs can be bare key (default config) or object (custom config)

Skill 2: Safe-Outputs Configuration

Description

Configure safe-outputs for GitHub operations (PRs, issues, comments) with proper validation and best practices.

Common Safe-Output Patterns

Pattern: Pull Request Creation

safe-outputs:
  create-pull-request:
    title-prefix: "[type] "
    labels: [automation, bot-generated]
    draft: true
    reviewers: [copilot]
    expires: 14  # Auto-close after 14 days
    fallback-as-issue: true  # Create issue if PR fails
    base-branch: main  # Target branch

When to use:

• Automated code changes
• Dependency upgrades
• Code generation
• Refactoring

Pattern: Issue Creation

safe-outputs:
  create-issue:
    title-prefix: "[report] "
    labels: [automation, needs-review]
    assignees: [copilot]
    expires: 7
    group: true  # Group multiple issues as sub-issues
    close-older-issues: true  # Close previous issues from same workflow

When to use:

• Reporting findings
• Tracking tasks
• Alerting on issues
• Documentation requests

Pattern: Issue/PR Comments

safe-outputs:
  add-comment:
    target: "triggering"  # Comment on triggering issue/PR
    max: 3
    hide-older-comments: true  # Hide previous comments from same workflow

When to use:

• Status updates
• Analysis results
• Bot responses
• Progress reporting

Pattern: PR Reviews

safe-outputs:
  create-pull-request-review-comment:
    max: 10
    side: "RIGHT"
    footer: "if-body"  # Only show footer when review has body
  submit-pull-request-review:
    max: 1
    footer: false

When to use:

• Code review automation
• Inline suggestions
• Security analysis
• Style checking

Pattern: Label Management

safe-outputs:
  add-labels:
    allowed: [bug, enhancement, documentation]
    max: 3
  remove-labels:
    allowed: [needs-triage, stale]
    max: 3

When to use:

• Workflow status tracking
• Issue classification
• Automation state management

Available Safe-Output Types

• create-pull-request - Create PRs with code changes
• create-issue - Create issues
• update-issue - Update issue title/body/status
• close-issue - Close issues
• create-discussion - Create discussions
• update-discussion - Update discussions
• close-discussion - Close discussions
• add-comment - Add comments to issues/PRs/discussions
• hide-comment - Hide comments
• add-labels - Add labels
• remove-labels - Remove labels
• add-reviewer - Add PR reviewers
• create-pull-request-review-comment - Add PR review comments
• submit-pull-request-review - Submit PR review
• update-pull-request - Update PR title/body
• dispatch-workflow - Trigger other workflows
• create-project, update-project - Manage GitHub Projects
• upload-asset - Upload files to orphaned branch

Skill 3: MCP Server Integration

Description

Configure and use Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers for specialized tool access.

Common MCP Server Configurations

Terraform MCP Server

mcp-servers:
  terraform:
    container: "hashicorp/terraform-mcp-server:0.5.1"
    env:
      TF_LOG: "INFO"
    allowed: ["*"]  # or specific tools

Available operations:

• Read Terraform configurations
• Analyze provider versions
• Detect breaking changes
• Generate upgrade recommendations

Azure MCP Server

mcp-servers:
  azure:
    container: "mcr.microsoft.com/azure-sdk/azure-mcp:latest"
    env:
      AZURE_SUBSCRIPTION_ID: ${{ secrets.AZURE_SUBSCRIPTION_ID }}

Available operations:

• Azure resource queries
• Best practices validation
• Documentation lookup
• Terraform Azure integration

Custom MCP Server

mcp-servers:
  custom:
    container: "your-org/your-mcp-server:v1.0.0"
    env:
      API_KEY: ${{ secrets.API_KEY }}
    allowed: ["specific_tool1", "specific_tool2"]

Network Configuration for MCP Servers

network:
  allowed:
    - defaults  # GitHub APIs
    - registry.terraform.io
    - releases.hashicorp.com
    - management.azure.com
    - custom-api.example.com

Skill 4: Workflow Compilation & Debugging

Description

Compile workflows and resolve common compilation errors.

Compilation Commands

# Compile single workflow
gh aw compile workflow-name

# Compile all workflows
gh aw compile

# Force recompile
gh aw compile --force workflow-name

# Validate without compiling
gh aw validate workflow-name

Common Compilation Errors & Fixes

Error: Invalid tool value for edit

Problem:

tools:
  read: null   # ❌ 'read' is not a valid tool
  edit: null   # ❌ null not valid for edit
  edit: true   # ❌ true not valid for edit

Solution:

tools:        # ✅ bare keys
  edit:
  bash:

Error: Write permissions blocked by strict mode

Problem:

permissions:
  contents: write       # ❌ blocked by strict mode
  pull-requests: write  # ❌ blocked by strict mode

Solution:

permissions:           # ✅ read-only
  contents: read
  pull-requests: read
safe-outputs:          # ✅ write operations go here
  create-pull-request: null

Error: pull_request trigger requires types

Problem:

on:
  pull_request:        # ❌ bare null not valid
  workflow_dispatch: null  # ❌ null not valid

Solution:

on:
  workflow_dispatch:   # ✅ bare key
  pull_request:        # ✅ explicit types
    types: [opened, synchronize, reopened]

Error: Missing permission for toolset

Problem:

tools:
  github:
    toolsets: [default]  # includes 'issues' toolset
permissions:
  contents: read          # ❌ missing 'issues: read', compiler warns

Solution:

tools:
  github:
    toolsets: [pull_requests]  # ✅ only what you need
permissions:
  contents: read
  pull-requests: read

Error: "got array, want object" for tools

Problem:

tools: ['bash', 'read', 'edit']  # ❌ Wrong

Solution:

tools:  # ✅ Correct
  bash:
  edit:

Error: Boolean default must be string

Problem:

workflow_dispatch:
  inputs:
    enabled:
      type: boolean
      default: true  # ❌ Wrong

Solution:

workflow_dispatch:
  inputs:
    enabled:
      type: boolean
      default: "true"  # ✅ Correct (quoted)

Error: Invalid safe-output field name

Problem:

safe-outputs:
  create_pull_request: null  # ❌ Wrong (underscore)

Solution:

safe-outputs:
  create-pull-request: null  # ✅ Correct (hyphen)

Error: Import download failed

Problem:

imports:
  - https://raw.githubusercontent.com/owner/repo/main/agent.md  # ❌ Wrong

Solution:

imports:
  - owner/repo/.github/agents/agent.md@main  # ✅ Correct

Error: Safe-outputs format

Problem:

safe-outputs: [create-issue, create-pull-request]  # ❌ Wrong (array)

Solution:

safe-outputs:  # ✅ Correct (object)
  create-issue: null
  create-pull-request: null

Extended Patterns & Reference

For deployment, testing, troubleshooting, performance optimization, security best practices, and quick reference, see references/GH-AW-PATTERNS.md.

Deployment Checklist